Aerial machine



P 8, 1931. I J. SCHULMAN 1,822,063

AERIAL MACHINE Filed March 25, 1929 9 I 15 FIG .1. 6

5 16 17 F'IGZ.

@ avvnmtoz JOSEPH JCHUL/M/V 3331 A Gnome/ a Patented Sept. 8, 1931 UNITED STATES JOSEPH SOHULMAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AERIAL MACHINE Application filed March 25, 1929f Serial No. 849,557.

This invention relates to airplanes and more particularly to safety devices therefor whereby the airplane may be raised or its fall retarded by auxiliary devices.

! One object of the invention is the actuation of such auxiliary devices by a source of power independent of the prime mover n0rmally propelling the airplane.

Another object of the invention is the utilization of a volume of gas under high pressure in the acceleration or retardation in a generally vertical direction of an airplane. Still another object is the provision for the delivery of successive volumes of gas in the 16 accomplishment of the freezing object.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a surface propelled by the aforesaid auxiliary devices at great speed to build up resistance of a high order in the air with 20 which it contacts and utilize this resistance in the acceleration or retardation of the airplane.

In accordance with the invention a normally horizontal plane surface, carried with an airplane, is adapted to be propelled downwardly at high speed thereby meeting with an increased resistance of air to accelerate or retard the airplane in a generally vertical direction. The speed of the surface is effected by the rapid expansion of a volume of gas, preferably attained by an explosive charge and successive volumes of gas are attained by the provision of a magazine of the charges.

These and other objects of the invention and the means for their attainment will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating one means by which the invention may be realized and in which:

Figure 1 is a view showing diagrammatically, an airplane in front elevation, the devices according to this invention being shown partly in section.

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the airplane shown in Figure 1.

The invention is applicable to any type of aircraft either heavier than air or lighter than air. In the illustrated embodiment, it

is shown as applied to an airplane of the monoplane type, whereof the body 1 is supported by wings 2 and propelled by the propeller 3. At a convenient point on thebody, the auxiliarysaf'ety devices in accordance with this invention are mounted. These devices are shown as carried upon a standard or frame work formed of four uprights 5 which support a cylinder 6. Within a cylinder is a vertically extending piston 9 having a piston rod 10 extending through a suitable aperture in the bottom of the cylinder and carrying at its lower end a substantially horizontal surface 12 having a peripheral flange 13 and reciprocating in the frame members 5 as guides. i

The piston 9 is adapted to be actuated by the rapid expansion of gases caused by the explosion of what are, in effect, cartridgescontaining gun powder or other explosive. Such cartridges are conveniently carried in a magazine, constructed according to any of the well known magazine mechanisms for explosive charges and shown in the illustrated embodiment diagrammatically as a cyl- 5 inder 15, and automatically fed to the explo sion chamber 16 above the piston 9 at the will of the pilot and exploded therein.

Thus, if the airplane starts to fall or it is desired to cause the elevation of the airplane so say by the sudden failure of the internal com bustion engine serving as the prime mover for the propeller 3. the pilot need only cause the firing in succession ofthe cartridges in the magazine 15, and as each cartridge ex plodes. the piston 9 is driven downwardly causingthe downward thrust of the plane surface 12 at enormous s eed. At the lowermost point of travel of the piston 9, the cylinder 6 is formed with outlet ports 16 through which the products of combustion may escape, springs 17 being illustrated to return the piston to uppermost position.

The rotation of the magazine 15 may be timed by gearing or the like as to cause the explosion of the cartridges contained-therein in proper sequence as the piston 9 returns to its elevating position.

- The defects in apparatus based upon the use of the so-called rocket systems of propulsion in the retardation of the fall of an airplane lie in the fact that to construct a rocket that will be strong enough to hold the charge of explosive necessary to give an impulse such as would retard the fall of an airplane weighing a half ten or more would mean that the rocket would probably weigh more than the lifting load when in operation. The carrying of several rockets would be out of the question, for as has been pointed out in the prior art the production of a large volume of gas under very high pressure is necessary to get the reaction that would be effective. Furthermore, if by a miscalculation. the charge was fi ed too soon and its elfects were dissipated before the disabled plane reached the groundit would have been carried uselesslv.

The reaction of the rocket to the escaping vases going directly into the air is onlv a fraction of the power latent in the powder charge. the balance s lost through the failure of the air to resist the outflow of gas.

Mv invention overcomes these defects by making the reloading of the rocket possible while in action and hv interposine an impenetrahle surface to the air which surface is propelled against the air by the gases re leased from the combustion of the powder of a suitable tvpe or from any other means that will give a suitable volume of gas quickly enough.

The effective action of my ap aratus depends upon the great resistance of the air to high speed whereas the air gives hardlv anv resistance to a surface propelled against it a low speed. Experiments have shown that the resistance increases as the souare of the velocity. Therefore. a comnarativelv small plane surface propelled against the air with the velocitv such as this apparatus is canable of. which is reallv the eonivalent of a reloading cannon, will check the fall of the airplane.

A helicoptor usin a propeller the equivalent of a screw for liftina has the defect that when attemptinq to lift the plane in a. straight li e the propeller starts the air underneath it moving with the result that the resistance of the column of air becomes progressivelv less whereas in my apparatus the number of downward strokes per minute will be few but they will be at an enormous rate of speed. with the result that the air column of densified air built up thereunder resists it as if the air were almost solid.

Various modifications will occur to those skilled in the art in the type of auxiliary propelling devices and also in the character of magazine by which the explosive elements are fed to the power device and no limitation is intended by the phraseology of the foregoing specification or illustrations in the ac- JOSEPH SCHULMAN.

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